“Everyone was pumped up and we wanted to get to 1-1,” Matkins said. “It was rough the first quarter, then we started rolling after that.”

The outcome wasn’t so encouraging for Western Alamance coach Carter Gerlach, who returned to the position on the bench after a four-year hiatus. It’s his third stint overall in charge of the Warriors.

Western Alamance’s opener was hindered by an injury to senior guard Andre Saunders, who’s among the leading returning players in the area. Saunders went down with an injured right knee while at the defensive end late in the first quarter and he didn’t return to the game.

“Frustrating,” Gerlach said. “We got off to a really good start and then had a couple of breakdowns. Just mishandling the ball.”

A 7-1 edge for the Warriors disappeared as Southern Alamance went on a 13-0 run. Even with a 30-25 halftime hole, Gerlach said he felt the team was in decent shape.

But Southern Alamance didn’t budge.

“You need these kinds of games,” Southern Alamance coach Anthony Noell said. “I liked our toughness and I think we were tough down the stretch. … I was excited the way we stayed together.”

Neither team scored in the first two minutes of the fourth quarter until Matkins hit his third 3-pointer of the game. Southern Alamance’s Jalen Burnett scored half of his 18 points in the fourth quarter.

Guard Davorous Graves, a transfer from Williams High School, scored 14 points in his Western Alamance debut. R.J. Turner, who missed the last few possessions because of cramping, added 13 points.

Both teams dealt with stretches of turnovers.

“We’ve got to be patient,” Noell said. “It’s a game of runs. We have to be smart with the ball.”

Western Alamance committed seven turnovers in the first seven minutes and had other disturbing stretches in trying to figure out who’s going to produce points.